Ferndale parking on agenda -- again

FERNDALE -- The Ferndale City Council at its next meeting will decide how much longer to extend free parking in the city as workers address glitches with the new parking system.

"We are going to do an update on the parking and talk about changes we've made since our last meeting in February," Mayor Dave Coulter said. "We'll also revisit whether to extend the free-parking holiday in our public lots."

The city installed a new parking system more than a month ago that replaced individual meters with pay stations.

The City Council meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

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City Manager April Lynch is set to make a presentation on progress the city has made since it began dealing with complaints about the new pay-station parking system.

The city was flooded with complaints after officials replaced 900 parking space meters with about 20 pay stations in public lots.

Many complained about lines at the pay stations during peak hours, inadequate lighting and mechanical problems with the pay-station machines.

The city is adding 14 more pay stations at public lots and increasing the efficiency of credit card transactions at the pay machines.

The addition of more pay stations will reduce waiting times at the machines.

Other complaints have focused on increased parking rates.

Coulter has said City Council members may ultimately reduce the increase somewhat, even though it has been nearly a decade since the city last increased rates.

A study of pay-station use showed there were up to 80 parking transactions per hour during peak hours in the four busiest downtown parking lots, according to Loyd Cureton, director of public works.

Though complaints about the new parking system crested last month, they have been nonexistent since the free "parking holiday" was put in place almost immediately afterward, Coulter said.

"We are going to fix the things that created the problems before we re-launch the (parking) system," Coulter said. "We know when we start charging again for parking there will be a learning curve for users, but the problems won't be because of mechanical issues like lights and the machines not working."

The parking system is overseen by a committee composed of Lynch and the heads of the police, DPW, economic development and Downtown Development Authority departments.

The purpose of introducing the new parking system is to operate it more efficiently and help increase revenues to fund parking improvements, officials said.

Ferndale's downtown has a deficit of several hundred parking spaces during peak hours, according to city studies.